Ports across the Maritimes preparing for record-breaking cruise ship year

The highly-anticipated cruise ship season is now underway in the Maritimes, with the first ship of 2017 sailing into Lunenburg Monday morning.

This year is expected to be the biggest cruise ship season for the ports of Halifax, Sydney and Charlottetown.

The Halifax Port Authority is expecting 173 visits and 274,000 passengers, including five new ships, four visits from the Queen Mary 2 and a five-ship day in September.

The Port of Sydney is expecting a 67 per cent increase in ship calls compared to last year. That works out to be 90 visits and 135,000 passengers, which would be its best year yet. The season starts this Sunday.

The Port of Charlotteown's season starts next week, but it's looking forward to its biggest season to date with 83 visits and more than 108,000 passengers. That's 26 more ships and about 42,000 more passengers compared to the 2016 season.

While it's not a record-breaking year for Saint John, the port is expecting an average cruise ship season when the first ship arrives on Thursday – although it will be one of the longest running seasons when it ends Nov. 1. It's expecting 64 ships and 144,000 passengers and crew members.